The Unauthorized Saved By The Bell Story
The Unauthorized Saved By The Bell Story (also known as Saved By The Bell: Behind The Scenes) is a made-for-television movie that is based on Dustin Diamond's book, Behind The Bell, which was used as the main inspiration for the film. The movie delves into the experiences of six unknown young teen actors placed into the Hollywood spotlight, and exposing the fact that they completely behave differently in not so innocent ways by purporting to reveal the alleged juicy and gossipy tidbits of drama behind-the-scenes of their TV series when they are off-screen, instead of having the squeaky-clean personalities of their popular on-screen characters from the iconic campy sitcom that mixed wholesome humor with preachy social messages into a cocktail that turned the series into a pop-culture phenomenon. It was directed by Jason Lapeyre, produced by Stephen Bulka, and written by Ron McGee. It premiered on the Lifetime Television network on September 1, 2014, and Lionsgate Home Entertainment then released the movie on DVD on November 3, 2014. About it The film opens in Cincinnati in 1990, and the teens of Saved By The Bell are on their way to a public event during their thirteen city mall tour, one of their first since the show aired, and they’re nervous that no one will show up. Dustin Diamond is the first to notice the gaggle of underage girls surrounding the car, and girls even throw themselves on a moving limo hoping to get a piece of them. Mark-Paul Gosselaar goes to do a time-out as the girl on his right stares at him, and he starts to deliver a monologue about Saved By The Bell being a wild ride. But he’s interrupted by Dustin saying this time it’s about him because it’s going to be full of lies and exaggerations. So we go back to 1988..…to Peter Engel and Linda Mancuso meeting with Brandon Tartikoff and listening to him pontificate about his old teacher, Miss Bliss. Tartikoff wants a sitcom about his teacher and he gets Engel to create a show about her, a family sitcom about the high school we all wish we’d gone to. Engel is skeptical about setting it in Indiana and asks who would put a television show there. Engel’s not sure he’s the right person for the job, but Tartikoff and Mancuso convince him to do it, and so they’re off for casting calls. Dustin and his father sign in for a casting call, with Dustin’s father complaining about driving Dustin to casting calls because he wants to support his son’s acting career all the while making him feel guilty about it. At the auditions, Lark Voorhies sits there making googly eyes at Mark-Paul. Dustin wants to read with this guy auditioning for Zack Morris, who snubs him because everyone in the world is a jerk except for Dustin. Mark-Paul will read with him, though, and the two have a chemistry that leads to them being cast, while Lark is so good as Lisa Turtle they change her from a Jewish princess to a sassy African-American girl. And so we’re at the studios of Disney to film Good Morning, Miss Bliss, with Dustin looking on in amazement that he’s a part of any of this. We meet Mark-Paul’s mother and learn he’s half Indonesian, and Mark-Paul and Dustin go exploring the studio and acting like kids. We meet Hayley Mills and Dennis Haskins, and as the two of them and Mark-Paul try to do a read-through, Dustin makes chicken noises because he’s Dustin Diamond and everything, every moment of the day has to be about him. Dustin says it was like a dream come true, being with people who recognized his superior intellect as a human being, and he wished it would never end. But then, five months later, Engel tells the cast that Good Morning, Miss Bliss has been cancelled because it couldn’t find its audience, since it just wasn’t appealing towards children or adults. Back in Tartikoff’s office, he suggests revamping the show to be about the teenagers, and revives it as a Saturday morning sitcom called Saved By The Bell. So Dustin sits at home, whining about going to school as his father tells him to just start standing up for himself. He gets a call telling him they’re bringing the show back, except he thinks it’s going to be about Zack Morris and Samuel "Screech" Powers this time around. It’s time for more thrilling casting calls, we meet Tiffani-Amber Thiessen and Elizabeth Berkley, who are both up for the role of Kelly Kapowski and they vow not to hate each other. Tiffani is a model and Elizabeth is a dancer, but they both want people to take them seriously as actors. We also meet Mario Lopez, who wows them so much as A.C. Slater that they cast him despite Mancuso’s reservations that he’s Latino. They’re divided on Kelly, though, and Engel can’t decide between Tiffani and Elizabeth for Kelly so he just decides to create a sixth character for Elizabeth. At the new cast gathering to read the script, Mark-Paul doesn’t want to talk to Dustin anymore because he’s talking to Mario at this very second about driver’s licenses, and Dustin has to sit on the other side of the table by Haskins! Engel lectures them on being professional and tells them to keep their relationships professional, as Mario hits on Tiffani and Elizabeth while Mark-Paul and Lark secretly hold hands under the table. It’s time for a run through, and Mario can’t remember his lines, Lark isn’t loud enough, and Dustin is Dustin. Enough said. Mancuso is worried they won’t be good enough to last, but Engel insists they just need to give them a chance. He's been asking all the cast about their interests outside of acting so he can incorporate it into the show. Mario’s a dancer and a wrestler and Tiffani likes horses but is going to have to settle for modeling because Saved By The Bell can’t afford horses. Mark-Paul’s not really a blonde, shock of shocks, and is the son of Dutch and Indonesian immigrants, and Dustin likes karate. So it’s almost time for their first audience rehearsal, and the cast is getting ready, including Mark-Paul dying his roots. We get a scene at The Max that never occurred on the show and is basically just everyone talking about random things while a laugh track plays in the background, Zack has a plot about forgetting his mother’s birthday, and Screech dresses up as Abraham Lincoln because it’s President’s Day. The cast do their curtain call for the audience, except Ed Alonzo, and Dustin pauses a moment before the audience. But their egos are soon deflated when they read the critics talk about how terrible they are, even worse than the original Saved by the Bell cast, especially Dustin. So Dustin marches right into Tartikoff’s office and demands Screech to be a cooler guy. Tartikoff explains to him that Screech is a geek because he’s a role people like, but Dustin doesn’t have to be like Screech. Four months later, where Engel and Mancuso deliver the bad news that Saved By The Bell has been cancelled. Though they say they’re proud of the work that the cast has done, ratings just haven’t been where the networked hoped and they’re pulling the plug. Word of mouth convinces gaggles of young teens to start watching Saved By The Bell, and little girls are begging Zack to marry them via t-shirt. So Tartikoff tells Engel randomly that the show is now a bona fide hit, teenagers are flipping out over getting to meet our six teenagers, and then everything goes out of control and they decide to go after Mark-Paul’s clothes, as security rushes them inside with Mark-Paul’s shirt in shreds because they wanted to see him without a shirt on, while the others just start celebrating inside of the building they just entered, even Mark-Paul, despite his being kind of shy and not particularly liking the fame Zack Morris brought him. So Saved By The Bell is bringing the network lots of money, but Mancuso isn’t happy that someone authorized sexy photos of Mario because it might ruin their wholesome image, Mark-Paul isn’t happy to discover that his parents won’t let him buy a car because they’re investing his money in a trust, and the girls find out just how popular they are when they’re out shopping and a couple of girls tell them how much they over-obsess about the show and base how they live their lives on the gospel according to Kelly Kapowski. This makes Elizabeth decide they need to push for more serious story lines that will teach life lessons to these kids who apparently don’t have parents who care about them, while Mark-Paul and Mario agree to help them influence the writers who will eventually influence Engel. During all this, Dustin is busy hiding in the closet, and he scares a random member of the crew with a fake spider, watches Mario taking a girl on a tour of the set, and has a creepy fantasy sequence that girls are waiting in a hot tub for him. Mark-Paul and Lark have a date on the roof, where he gives her a birthday present, which gives her an opportunity to exposit about how she’s a Jehovah’s Witness, and they’re interrupted by Elizabeth, which sends Lark scurrying along because it gives Mark-Paul a chance to tell Elizabeth how insecure he is in his secret relationship with Lark since they never get to spend any time together. It’s not helped by Tiffani deciding she needs to practice her kiss with Mark-Paul before they do it in front of a live studio audience. The cast gather to take promo photos, there’s tension between Lark and Tiffani because Lark’s jealous of the attention Mark-Paul is suddenly giving her, and Dustin has a notorious hatred of Mario doing push-ups on set, leading them to randomly almost fight for nearly no reason. During a Winter Carnival scene, Mario and Elizabeth get close, and Dustin brags about getting his first kiss from Tori Spelling. Engel tells his producers he wants to do more serious story lines for the kids, which Mancuso and the rest think will never work, but Tartikoff loves. Dustin gives Tartikoff’s daughter a tour of the set, with Tartikoff commenting that Dustin has matured a lot since he last saw him. Elizabeth interrupts Mario sunbathing to tell him about the script, and how she’ll be popping pills, but he does assure her she’ll be great in the role, and there’s a hint of romance, so Mark-Paul and Elizabeth practice the infamous freak out scene from “Jessie’s Song.” Dustin thinks the scene is ridiculous, while the others call him out for hurting Elizabeth’s feelings about her big scene, causing him to stomp out like a little baby and kick a trash can. It’s there that he meets an extra, who gets Dustin started on vodka. While shooting the season three Malibu Sands episodes, the cast is playing practical jokes on one another as Mark-Paul gives Mario a photocopy of his butt. Things are rocky outside the show as casting calls for movies about Eleanor Roosevelt don’t want to take Elizabeth seriously as an actress because she is in a kids show, or at least the receptionist doesn’t. Things are rocky for Mark-Paul and Lark as well as she’s jealous that he’s spending so much time with Tiffani, even being filmed in public going to the movies with her. He says he doesn’t understand what their relationship is supposed to be, so she stomps off in a hissy fit. Dustin and the extra get heckled waiting in line for a movie, so Dustin lays the heckler out on the ground. On set, Dustin and Haskins are running through lines as Engel walks through, because he’s distracted because Tartikoff and his daughter have been in a car accident. Tartikoff is okay but it’s not looking good for his daughter. The injury of Tartikoff’s daughter makes Dustin storm off to be alone and kick things, ignoring Haskins' suggestion he take the afternoon off. Mancuso and Engel discuss the future of the show, and Mancuso insists it can’t be cancelled because too many people love it. Engel says it’s time to go, that the kids have grow up and are ready to do other things. Mancuso wants twenty-six more episodes, but Engel says the kids are only under contract for ten more episodes, so send them on expensive trips to bribe them into resigning. Mark-Paul and Tiffani are going to Paris, Elizabeth and Lark are going to New York City, Mario to Miami, and Dustin is sent to Spartanburg, South Carolina. Dustin takes the extra along with him and whines about everyone getting to go to awesome places but him, so his friend convinces him it’s a good idea to get drunk before a public appearance. This leads to him back in L.A. and being chewed out by Engel, and Dustin whines about being picked on and thinks he is so misunderstood, but all he did was get drunk, make an fool of himself, and have a meeting with some random fan. Engel says if Dustin messes up again, he’ll have to fire him. In Paris, Mark-Paul and Tiffani get some wine, and Tiffani tells Mark-Paul that she and Elizabeth aren’t going to renew their contracts because Elizabeth wants to make it big in movies and Tiffani wants to keep growing as an actress, and Mark-Paul is stunned. Back in L.A., Tiffani and Elizabeth say goodbye to their costars, then leave together, wondering if they made the right choice in not renewing their contracts as they see Leanna Creel dancing around on set for Engel. A daredevil motorcyclist rides around outside, scaring Mario, it’s Mark-Paul, and Mario warns him about breaking the dangerous activities clause of his contract, but Mark-Paul doesn’t care about any of that noise. Meanwhile, Dustin hangs around, smokes a joint, and does bad Wayne’s World impersonations, while being filmed by his friend. Mark-Paul and Mario attend a random party where they run into Tiffani and Elizabeth, and Elizabeth mentions that she might be getting the lead in an awesome new film coming out. The extra reveals he’s blackmailing Dustin with the joint tape. Mancuso is concerned that the cast are doing wild things like drinking and partying. Engel tells her they’re just kids an they can’t stop kids stuff, so he suggests sending them out with the graduation fans have wanted the past four years. In the costume room, Mark-Paul and Lark try on their gowns while Mario wears his ballet costume. Tiffani and Elizabeth are back, too, because the producers called them up and asked them to do the episode. Mark-Paul goes to search for Dustin to tell him it’s time for the read through, and finds him alone in a library. Dustin confides in him about his now former friend blackmailing him, and Mark-Paul convinces him he needs to tell the producers because they will protect him despite Engel’s warning not to do anymore stupid things. Engel gives the cast one final pep talk and says he’s proud of how far they’ve come during the course of the show. They perform the graduation scene, and as Engel watches them, he says he can’t believe it’s over, and Mancuso says that maybe it’s not. Dustin does one final time out to tell us it wasn’t over, as everyone throws their caps and celebrates. Cast of characters Taylor Russell as Lark Voorhies in the role of her on-screen persona of the privileged Lisa Turtle Sam Kindseth as Dustin Diamond in the role of everyone’s favorite geek and loveable sidekick Screech Dylan Everett as Mark-Paul Gosselaar in the role of the mischievous ringleader Zack Morris Tiera Skovbye as Elizabeth Berkley in the role of her beloved character Jessie Sapano Alyssa Lynch as Tiffani-Amber Thiessen in the role of Kelly Kapowski Julian Works as Mario Lopez in the role of the hunky jock A.C. Slater Ken Tremblett as Dennis Haskins in the role of Mr. Richard Belding Alannah Berry as Tori Spelling in the role of Screech's girlfriend Violet Bickerstaff Manny Jacinto as Josh Hoffman in the role of Jessie's stepbrother Eric Alison Raine as Hayley Mills in the role of Miss Carrie Bliss Adam Greydon Reid as Brandon Tartikoff Christine Bortolin as Robin Lippin Trivia The casting for the movie was done by the original show’s casting director Hours of brand-new interviews were conducted for this film that were obtained independently of Dustin Diamond and his book Dustin Diamond revealed that his negative tell-all book Behind The Bell, is a mostly made up "dirt-dishing" inside story that paints an unflattering portrait of the show's cast and crew, and claims it was ghost written by an author who simply interviewed him and compiled the book from his answers. His former co-stars were highly critical of the book and stated that their own experiences with the show were positive and did not see where any of the book's negative claims of incredibly harmful personal information actually occurred on set, especially the sections of some of the more outrageous material in the text, which purported that everyone in the cast was sleeping together, since Diamond alleged that he had sex with 2,000 women, one of them NBC's Vice President of children's programming, Linda Mancuso, who was 18 years his senior. He later tried to deny this, and claimed that these parts of the book were fabricated from very minor statements he made during the interviews, such as his remark, "Yeah, there were a bunch of kids on set with hormones so...what do you think?" There were real-life shocking occurrences that actually happened after Saved By The Bell went off the air in 1993, and not during the production of the series The show primarily focused on lighthearted comedic situations, but occasionally incorporated serious dramatic elements into episodes by dealing with real teen social issues, such as drug use, driving under the influence, homelessness, divorce, remarriage, death, women's rights, and environmental issues. Notably, intimate sexual relationships were alluded to but not actually dealt with. After the film aired, many fans of Saved By The Bell expressed their disdain for it on Twitter, saying it placed emphasis on exaggerated dramatic events rather than depicted events as they happened because they believed it to be more parody than biopic. Category:Movies